Have Yourself A Midday Noel Downtown

We’ve told you about many local holiday celebrations, but here's one with a decidedly different angle.First Presbyterian Church Minister of Music Tom Dooling tells me about the curiously titled Midday Noels--Titled that because they happen at 12:10 in the afternoon.

"It’s just a great break in the middle of the day for folks who work downtown to come and enjoy a brief concert— only about 30 or 40 minutes in length, [then] you can enjoy some lunch options, to get just a little bit of a Christmas break," Dooling explains.

The church, located at 404 N. Alamo, found offering a box lunch makes it easier for those who want to attend.

"Our kitchen staff provides a wonderful hot lunch that’s available for seven dollars, or for folks that don’t have the time to stay around for lunch, we actually do sack lunches that you can take," says Dooling. "They’re three dollars apiece. You can take them right after the concert and go back to work."

The last Midday Noel is Thursday the 19th, and Dooling says attendees can expect "a mixed variety of sacred pieces, of Christmas carols that I know everyone would recognize, as well as some secular pieces, some pop pieces such as 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.' We’re doing a Charlie Brown Medley, a wonderful arrangement of 'Jingle Bells' that was popularized by Barbara Streisand. A wonderful mixture of holiday pieces."

It’s not just listening though—Dooling invites you to do some singing too.

"You’ll get to sing 'O Christmas Tree,' and then the choir responds with a really jazzy version of that, and then they’ll get to sing 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing.'"